![Bill Gates Invests in Opposing-Piston Engine [Video]](http://cdn3.diggstatic.com/story/Bill_Gates_Invests_in_Opposing_Piston_Engine_Video/t.png)
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ghostof2010Jul 13, 2010
He will do anything to be on the opposing side and look smart for it won't he?
danieltttJul 13, 2010
Seems he's on a positive side and he looks pretty smart....
Closed AccountJul 13, 2010
So how much did they invest? $23.5 million between the both of them.
chijim70Jul 13, 2010
100 mpg ... and cheap to produce... sounds good to me!
strictneinJul 13, 2010
Am I the only one tired of seeing engines rated in MPG? It doesn't even really make sense. Energy efficiency would obviously be a far better measure.
robertisaarJul 13, 2010
it would be. MPG is based on a LOT of factors, not just the engine alone....
i'd like to see some brake specific fuel consumption numbers on this engine. since the average gasoline engine is roughly .4-.5 lbs of fuel per hour to produce 1HP, this engine should supposedly put them to shame.
candre23Jul 14, 2010
It's a simple, single number that most people can understand. More technical details would just be gibberish to non-engineers.
worldstoasterJul 14, 2010
how is miles per gallon not a form of energy efficiency? Are you suggesting that a vehicle that goes 100 miles on the same amount of fuel as a vehicle that goes 60 could be less energy efficient?Comment is buried, click here to see the rest.
strictneinJul 14, 2010
@Worldtoaster:
Vehicle 1 is a scooter. It gets 100 MPG.
Vehicle 2 is a tank. It gets 60 MPG.
Which engine is more efficient?
aineolachJul 14, 2010
It's the megapixel of the car world.
aFixedetourJul 13, 2010
Why is Bill Gates even in the title of this?
TedComputerGeekJul 13, 2010
Bill gates makes anything interesting.
realmadpuppyJul 13, 2010
I like how someone replied to the article that they would have been more impressed if Steve Jobs invested in the company...Yeah, if I recall correctly Steve Jobs invested in the Segway...that was sound investing...blah.
appleofdischordJul 13, 2010
I still have plans to start a Segway biker(?) gang
droptop911Jul 13, 2010
I LoL'd
jcsocJul 13, 2010
You had me at your German accent
oriondrJul 13, 2010
vit volks vagen.
.. ja das stimmt.
Seems like a subaru/porsche/VW engine.
pstrollJul 13, 2010
Berlinetta Boxer
erikwithaknotacJul 13, 2010
How can I invest in this?
droptop911Jul 13, 2010
An excellent question...I was thinking the same thing myself.
braaadJul 13, 2010
f**king Opoc engines...how do they work?
danieltttJul 13, 2010
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i1amtDX_u8Ia3Tjtumwf4PkAOGiwD9GUBV4G0
fredpilotJul 13, 2010
Magic everywhere in this bitch!
droptop911Jul 13, 2010
Here are a couple more links with info.
http://www.engineeringtv.com/video/Opposed-Piston-Opposed-Cylinder
http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/12/ecomotors-revs-engine-to-23-5-million-series-b-funding/
ironengineerJul 13, 2010
OK so its a boxer engine. This engine configuration has been around for years. I just don't see the supposed quantum leap this engine has taken to get the 50% improvement. If someone else knows, please point it out, but I am thus far unimpressed.
Problems with the boxer engine include its size and the fact that it operates with the cylinders in the horizontal direction. The oil tends to pool on one side of the cylinder compared to the other, leading to premature engine wear. As for size, you can't fit this engine in the front of a car. It doesn't fit between the suspension of the 2 front tires. Porsche gets away with putting it in the trunk in all of their vehicles, which is an acceptable configuration, but this will change the vehicle's handling. Some people don't like it.
Advantages are that it is vibrationally dynamically balanced by design. The vibrations of the engine are far reduced as compared to other more conventional engine designs (V-engines). I can't think of any other off the top of my head.
This company's going on like some big new thing has been developed that I just do not see here (boxer engines first appeared like 5 decades ago). If I am missing something please point it out. Otherwise this should be buried as sensationalist advertising.Comment is buried, click here to see the rest.
akchrsJul 13, 2010
Exactly. A Volkswagen, BMW motorcycle, and a Honda Goldwing used this type of engine and a lot of airplanes.
Closed AccountJul 13, 2010
Seriously? You are blind, and being dugg up by the blind also it seems.
Yes, it is exactly the same as a boxer engine if the boxer engine were to have recipricating cylinder heads attached with additional conrods to the crankshaft. There are opposing pistons in each cylinder, in stark contrast to simply having opposing cylinders with one piston each. It is vastly different.
Thermal efficiency is a factor of many things, and one for the engineers, but straight away I can see that this motor is effectively working with half the stroke of a normal boxer engine without relinquishing half the displacement or requiring double the compression (impossible).
As for the traditional horizontally opposed motors fitting between the two front wheels, they do so easily in many Subarus. Even more compact horizontally opposed motors are used in light aircraft, like the 550ci (!!) flat 6 by Continental, which will also fit in a car.
kadioJul 13, 2010
mrdevo is right. if you rtfa you'll see that it's similar to a junkers engine. it doesn't have a cylinder head.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkers_Jumo_205
duneadxJul 14, 2010
What's most impressive is that the opposing pistons balance each other so well that there is no load on the main bearings at all, meaning they could last indefinitely.
droptop911Jul 13, 2010
Google it...Its as different from a boxer engine as the inline 4 in a model T is to a port injected V-10.
remotehumanJul 13, 2010
like mrdevo said, every current Subaru model since 1993 has used the horizontally opposed 4 cylinder and 6 cylinder engine. Over time the oil can build up in one spot but for cars that are normally used and not stored for long periods of time it doesn't normally happen. They are pretty small too, a full 4 cylinder motor with both heads weighs about 150 lbs. They fit between the wheels nicely, and they sit low so they leave plenty of room in the rest of the engine bay for everything else.
cplusplusJul 13, 2010
Olde jokes
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~hoaglund/microsft.html
kaidovakJul 13, 2010
Michigan could use the work. I hope this goes into production.
Closed AccountJul 13, 2010
100MPG MUSTANG = DEATH OF THE TOYOTA PRIUS!
( John Coletti must have tons of great projects up his sleeve.
http://www.ecomotors.com/o-john-coletti )
foundation12Jul 13, 2010
It definitely looks much lighter than a traditional engine, but I don't really see how they're going to gain more than a few percent efficiency increase from the design. They need to post hard numbers on fuel-consumption-rate per power-output contrasted against comparable engines. Eventually you're just clawing for small increases in efficiency, thermodynamics isn't going to change for a clever design.
That said, the weight savings looks intense enough to me for this configuration to become very successful (barring other technologies maturing first).
stayputnikJul 13, 2010
Anyone else really annoyed that the "[Video]" was just some old dude talking and not a demo of the engine in operation?
droptop911Jul 13, 2010
Here are a couple more links with info.
http://www.engineeringtv.com/video/Opposed-Piston-Opposed-Cylinder
http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/12/ecomotors-revs-engine-to-23-5-million-series-b-funding/
Primary testing with the US Military shows they are indeed onto something here. They say they during testing the engine showed a 40% increase in energy/fuel used, in a light weight package, with fewer moving parts, meets emission standards and at a lower production cost than conventional engines.
Also it will fit within the curent designe envelope for passenger cars and trucks...and its a Diesel. Expect a production powerplant in 2 years.
The Looks like Gates made a smart move...Gates is no sucker; talk to your broker.
themachine1Jul 13, 2010
He can afford to invest in a number of highly speculative companies and tolerate a few winners and a number of failures.
droptop911Jul 14, 2010
Yes, but he does seem risk-averse, and the info I have found seems to indicate that there is more to this tech than smoke.
mauricehJul 14, 2010
The big deal here is no tjhte opposing piston engine. That has been done to death since at least 1878!
See, for reference in wikipaedia, Seach "opposing Piston".
What IS new about this is the opposing pistons on each side of teh crank. Effectively 4 pistons for each crank throw position.
This yields a VERY high density application.
Comment is buried, click here to see the rest.
ironengineerJul 14, 2010
Ok people have to get their heads around what this engine is doing. Yes it uses opposing pistons in each cylinder. This effectively obtains a greater compression ratio for a given piston length. You obtain a greater compression ratio for less displacement of each piston. However, thermal efficiency is dependant solely on compression ratio and nothing else. This will not get you greater energy out of the same amount of fuel, no matter what spin is put on it. All it is doing is letting you do is build an engine that can obtain the same compression ratio as a larger engine, but with a smaller displacement per piston. This could contribute to longer engine life due to less wear, given, but again you are not actually increasing the compression ratio, and so are not getting more energy out of the fuel. And now for the reason we can't increase the compression ratio. As you increase the compression ratio of an engine, you increase the maximum temperature of the fuel/air mixture in the piston as it is compressed and before the spark ignites the fuel. The problem is that if the temperature gets too high, it will auto-ignite before the spark plug fires. This causes the combustion to occur at a point too early in the cylinder's rotation and causes you to do damage to the engine. The effects of this are similar to those of engine knock. It is different from knock, but the effects are similar, that is you cause damage to your engine and lose some potential energy that you could be obtaining from the gas. Higher octane fuels can take higher compression ratios, but not much.
I am going to say this again, I see no way this engine can increase compression ratio of an engine without a change in the fuel type it is running. Thus, it cannot obtain more energy from the fuel. It is using a displacement of half the length of a normal engine's to accumulate that energy, but you can't get more. Doing so will damage your engine. Thus I am still going to call bogus on this guy's claims of 50% more energy.
Again, if anyone can dispute these claims then please do so. I try to track any new technologies I encounter and try to identify which ones have promise and which are bogus marketing claims, of which there are many. If you think differently about the technology than I do, back it up with facts and post.
candre23Jul 14, 2010
The main point that you're missing is that it uses a two stroke cycle instead of four. That means it is making power from each cylinder on every full crank rotation, instead of every other rotation. The piston travel (per piston) is also much lower for a given displacement, which means the engine wastes a lot less energy just moving around big hunks of metal. The lack of valves and a valve train further increases efficiency. To be fair, this wasn't made clear in the video. Watch this longer, more informative video from last year for more details: http://www.engineeringtv.com/video/Opposed-Piston-Opposed-Cylinder
darkermasterJul 14, 2010
Informative discourse?
This is digg...post a lolcat or get off /s
warragulJul 14, 2010
Is this something like the Deltic engines of the '40s?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napier_Deltic
Of course pre-ignition isn't as much of a problem with diesels.
derangedpenguinJul 14, 2010
It seems like it is more complicated than a traditional Autocycle or Diesel engine. Looking for simplicity perhaps a Detroit Allison 2 stroke diesel. This engine looks like more journals more connecting rods more things to break.
pandabearshenyuJul 14, 2010
Rotary engine for life!
tanethJul 14, 2010
Why'd it have to be him? I just hope he doesn't hand it to microsoft. I happen to like that engine design.
wheelingdude86Jul 14, 2010
Please don't sound like a Harley. Please don't sound like a Harley. Please don't sound like a Harley.